Project 3: Mayfield MicroRNA: targets for medication development in alcoholism. Chronic alcohol abuse produces lasting changes in brain function that are manifested as tolerance, physical dependence, craving, and other behavioral changes. The Mayfield Project will test the overall hypothesis that these changes are due to the co-ordinated regulation of alcohol-responsive genes by small non-coding RNAs. This Project will explore the role of these regulatory RNAs using several innovative approaches to alcohol research, including profiling of all known microRNAs (miRNAs), next generation sequencing of unique small RNAs, prediction and validation of miRNAs, mRNA target interactions, expression patterns of miRNAs which may act in combination to regulate mRNA expression and delivery of selected alcohol-related miRNAs to brain.